Stolen Soul
by Mewmewmewtwo
Summary: This is no longer just a test drive. This is real, people. Sterling, a girl without emotion. Will she be able to tell right from wrong, or will it be too late to fix the mess she (accidentally) created?
1. rough draft: my original idea

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. I'm pretty sure I already said that.

My name is Sterling. I am the last soulstealer. Hah. Soulstealer. I never asked to be brought into this world, never wanted to be nothing but a shell of a girl and a pawn. Platina and I used to joke about this, back before the spell binding her borrowed soul to her body wore out, and she was no more. Once there were more of us, others like me and Platina. Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Gold, Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Diamond, Pearl, Black and White. Oh, and Silver, the boy I replaced. I am a shifter, able to change form at will. Do you remember me, Platina? I kept my form just for you. Raven hair like yours, blood red lips and pale skin. But my eyes are nothing like yours. They are the things I can't change about me. One eye silver, like the boy I replaced, and one purple, like the girl whose soul animates my false body. We all served a man who used us as pawns, giving us beasts of the elements to strike fear in his enemies. Everyone but me was allowed to keep their personalities as the living, everybody but me. I was created because the one I replaced spoke out against our master. My heart was his first, the little silver pendant around my neck, pulsing for the heart that doesn't exist. His friends, Gold and Crystal, hated me. That doesn't matter now. They are dead too, the spells worn out as well. Funny how I, the girl without a soul, was the one who killed our master. After that, we all parted ways, trying to find what we would do with the time we had left. Platina and I challenged the Battle Duo, the strongest element tamers around. We beat them, with our beasts of fire and water, and we were the new Duo. Now there is only one, a girl who just sits and waits for the day she too will disappear. Are you waiting for me, Platina? Where ever you are, please wait. I am fading, my body turning back to the stone statue I used to be. My heart no longer pulses, and I am fading. I am Sterling, who is- who was the last soulstealer. Is there anybody, I wonder, to remember me? I see the boy who loved me run up to me as I disappear in a flash of light. He picks up my heart, which is once again only cold metal. Remembering is the only way the people who die stay alive in a way. After all, I am the soul of a girl who died a long time ago… and who is dying now.

A short little thing for an idea I came up with. I'm sorry for this being just rambling and nonsense, but it was an idea I'm testing out. Again, please don't kill me for the terribleness.


	2. Chapter 1: Ruby Roses

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. A dedication to the ever wonderful Puniful TeaKat for putting up with me and getting me off hiatus.

She woke up lying on an iron table, opening her eyes as the spell that bound her soul to her body was finished. Rather, it was somebody else's soul, but now, it was hers. The table was cold, and anybody with a mind in their head would have moved. But the girl didn't care, didn't think. The man turned towards her, sallow faced, blue eyed. "I am Cyrus, your master. You are to obey all orders from me. You are to be called Sterling. The girl, now Sterling, nodded blankly. Cyrus smiled with satisfaction. "I have created the ultimate weapon: a person without a soul, a pawn." Anybody else would have been offended. Sterling didn't even have the ability to feel offended. "Platina!" An elegant girl with dark hair and golden eyes materialized in front of them. "Yes?" "Take Sterling and get her tools. Introduce her to Allen as well." Platina nodded. "Yes sire." Turning towards Sterling, she beckoned her forward. "Come." Platina walked through the door, and Sterling followed. "Sterling! Before you go, take this," Cyrus handed Sterling a silver locket shaped like a heart, with a ruby in the middle. "This is your heart. Take good care of it."

"Now then Sterling, you are to be given weapons. In order to properly spread chaos and destruction throughout the lands, you need a Pokémon." Platina's eyes glimmered with amusement. "We have your Pokémon chosen for you. His name is Inferno." Platina led Sterling over to the little creature, which was sleeping soundly. The cyndaquil in question woke up when the two entered the room. "Fire!" He cried gleefully. He blew a fireball at Platina, who dodged. Inferno jumped around. "Fire, fire, FIRE!" With each cry, he blew another fireball. Platina sighed. She pulled out a jeweled whistle, and blew on it. An empoleon lumbered in, and blew a small stream of water at the flames. Platina clamped her hands over Inferno's muzzle, and plopped him in Sterling's arms. She stared at the little creature blankly.

Platina led Sterling to the training room. "We'll get you a weapon as soon as we find out which weapon suits you. For that, we're going to Allen." She pushed open the heavy metal door, where a group of people milled around. Three of them, a boy and two girls, were standing apart from the rest of the group. One of them, a girl with brown hair and a black dress, grabbed Sterling by the shoulders, looking into Sterling's eyes with blue eyes reddened from crying. She seemed to be searching for something, and the light drained from her eyes. Whatever she was looking for, it wasn't there. The girl with blue hair and blue eyes started shaking Sterling. "Where is he? What have you done with him?" Sterling looked at her with blank eyes. "I do not know who you are talking about." The brunette burst into tears. "Give it up Blue, Crystal. He's not coming back. This is his replacement." It was the boy with black hair and golden eyes, eyes filled with hatred and grief. He practically spat the word replacement. "Hey! You three! It's not your job to tear apart the newbie, that's my job!" A teenage girl with brown hair and teal eyes walked into the room, flanked by a persian and a pichu. Although her words were joking, she seemed to be saddened as well. "This," whispered Platina. "is Allen. Nobody's sure what her real name is. We just call her Teal." Teal clapped her hands. "Ok, you know the drill! Train hard, and if you show any weakness, Monti here will have to eat you!" The Persian purred in agreement. She turned towards Sterling. "A newbie! I take it you're Silver's replacement? If you're anywhere near as good as he was, you'll do fine!" Even though she seemed to be grieving, she concealed it better than Blue and Crystal. "Crystal! Get over here. I need you to test out her abilities." Crystal drew a long sword from its sheath. "With pleasure." She glared at Sterling. "Umm… Allen, I don't think that's safe," muttered Platina. Allen waved her hand. "Of course it's safe! All the swords used here are blunt!" Platina didn't look convinced. Allen tossed a sword at Sterling. "Try this one! It's a long sword. That'll match you with Crystal." Sterling caught the sword, and Crystal charged. She delivered a flurry of quick, strong blows, and Sterling found herself blocking them with her sword, using the hilt as well as the blade. Seeing an opening, she lunged, then changed course at the last minute, hitting Crystal with the flat of her blade. Spinning, she delivered her own blows, and all that you could see was flashes of metal and two figures spinning, twirling, dancing. There was a clang, and something fell with a thud. Finally, they stopped, Sterling's blade on Crystal's neck, Crystal's sword lying on the floor a few feet away. "Impossible…nobody but Silver has ever beat me…"Crystal looked shocked. Teal clapped. "A wonderful performance, the two of you! Crystal, since you have still only lost to one person, Monti can't eat you." Monti growled and sulked. Blue was watching Sterling closely, a faint spark once again in her eyes.

"Now then!" Teal grinned. "Pokémon battle assessment! Your Inferno against Tea!" The pichu squeaked happily. Sterling nodded towards Inferno, and he cheered. "Yay! I get to burn stuff! Fire, fire, yayy!" he spat a fireball at Tea, who dodged and began charging power, running towards Inferno as she was slowly enveloped with crackling electricity. Inferno blew flame at Tea, but she didn't stop, and kept running. She slammed into him, fainting him in one blow. Sterling picked up Inferno, and held him in the same manner as one who had a dirty rag dumped into their hands and didn't know what to do with it. Teal sighed. "I kinda expected that to happen. I mean, your cyndaquil is level 20 and Tea here is level 60." Sterling stared at her. Platina leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Teal's very strange. She says she's from something called the 21 century, and she talks funny sometimes." Teal whipped her head around. "I heard that!" Platina shrugged.

Platina brought Sterling over to the armory. "Pick out any sword you want. It doesn't matter which." Sterling looked around. To her, they were all the same. She looked over a golden sword, beautifully crafted and inlaid with jewels. She looked at a simple, yet elegant sword with a worn leather hilt and a ruby set in the pommel. Even though she felt the same thing as when she had looked at the other swords, Sterling felt drawn to this one. She picked it up, and it fit perfectly in her hand, an extension of her arm. Platina looked at her choice and nodded. "Ah, that's Rose, one of our best swords here. Sharp, strong, light, and durable. And beautiful too." She handed Sterling a sheath and belt. Buckling it across her tunic, Sterling strapped the sheath on. Sliding the sword in, she nodded. This sword would do wonderfully to serve her master.

Now if only that was the same of her cyndaquil… Sterling had taken to putting a muzzle over Inferno's snout to make sure he didn't torch the castle. Walking to her quarters, she passed by Platina. "Sterling, what is that on Inferno's snout?" Sterling gave her the blank look Platina was now familiar with. "A muzzle. What else." Sterling stated in a monotone. Platina lifted an eyebrow. Coming from anybody else, that would have been sarcasm. But from Sterling, she wasn't so sure…

Sterling went into the room she shared with a girl with blonde hair and yellow eyes, along with a boy with red eyes and messy black hair. "Hello! I am Yellow, and the grouchy guy over there is Red." Red grumbled. "I am a grouch? So what does that make Green?" Sterling nodded, and then headed into the bathroom. The bathroom consisted of a well, a wooden tub, and a vial of cleansing oil. Pulling up a bucket of well water, Sterling got a look at her face for the first time. Full red lips the color of blood, deathly pale skin, and murkrow black hair. The one standout feature, however, was her eyes. One of them was a light purple, the other silver. Suddenly, she heard a voice. _Who are you?_ The voice murmured softly. Sterling froze. It was a male voice, one she had never heard before but somehow, someway, was still so familiar. She knew the voice as well as she knew her own. In her mind's eye, she saw an angry looking teenager looking back at her. He had silver eyes and red hair, and he seemed tired. Sterling felt like she should know this person, he seemed so familiar… "Hey, are you ok in there?" Yellow called through the door. Sterling nodded. In a bored voice, she answered. "Yes. I am fine." But in reality, she wasn't, and she felt a nagging to find out who the boy was. Getting on the straw pallet that was her bed, Sterling tried to get to sleep. But she spent a long time trying to get rid of the image of the boy, and he plagued her dreams. And deep inside the pendant around her neck, something stirred within the ruby.


	3. Chapter 2: Beldum

Sterling woke to a bucket of water in her face. "Good morning, sleeping beauty," sang Allen. Sterling just blinked. "Today we're going to catch you a Pokémon. We're heading towards the Hoenn region, because I'm lazy and I don't wanna go to Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh, or, Arceus forbid, Unova." Sterling nodded.

Allen dragged the unresponsive Sterling through the halls, Allen with a goofy grin on her face and Sterling with her usual poker face. Allen ran towards the stables, and came back leading a bored looking Dodrio. Allen unrolled a map to show a continent that was divided into four; Kanto, Johto Hoenn, and Sinnoh. There was a large island to the north labeled "Unova". Allen slammed the map on the conveniently placed table standing next to them, and started to babble. "Okay Dodrio, let's catch us- I mean Sterling, a Pokémon!" The dodrio snorted, and allowed the two girls to mount him. And with that, they were off.

As they rode on, Allen decided to keep herself entertained. "You know Sterling; you should totally own this dodrio. I mean, both of you are the same, because you both have no emotion. Just like Silver!" Sterling thought she heard somebody mutter, "_Hmph. I have more emotion than her. She's got as much emotion as a rock."_ She looked around, hand on her sword, and then gave up. You couldn't attack somebody who wasn't there, right? Finally, the dodrio stopped, and Allen got off. "Alright! Let's go catch a Pokémon. Hey Sterling, where's your pyromaniac cyndaquil?" Sterling looked at her. "At the fortress. I can't risk it torching Hoenn." Allen shrugged. "First Pokémon we see, we catch. Arceus forbid it's a zigzagoon…"

But of course, the first pokemon they found wasn't a zigzagoon. It was a beldum, which Sterling had angered by carelessly allowing her sword to get caught by the beldum's magnetic body. Allen gulped. "I can't believe we found a beldum. They're super rare, and hard to get. I mean, it has the same catch rate as a legendary…" Sterling looked at her. Just as Platina had said, this girl was spouting nonsense. Allen smiled. "But we will catch it! In honor of Steven! Gooo Tea!" Tea materialized out of some strange red and white sphere, and looked at the beldum. "This is nothing! I've fought dragons before. Bring it on, you overrated super computer!" "THUNDER WAVE!" Tea nodded, and discharged a weak amount of electricity, paralyzing the beldum. "Volt tackle!" Tea nodded, and used the same attack that had fainted Inferno so easily. When the smoke cleared, the beldum was still up, but shaking. Allen pulled a bunch of those strange spheres out of her bag, all with different colors, and began pegging the beldum with them. "Come. _Plonk._ On. _Plonk_. Just. _Plonk._ Do. _Plonk. _Us. _Plonk. _All. _Plonk._ A._ Plonk_. Favor. _Plonk._ And. _Plonk_. Get caught already!" The pokeball rattled, and then gave a beep to acknowledge that the Pokémon had been caught. Allen cheered. "Yes! I caught beldum! And it only took 30 pokeballs to do it!" Sterling just stared. This girl was obviously mad.

They spent a good part of the day training beldum, and Allen even resorted to force- feeding it rare candies when it refused to level up. Finally, Sterling had a new team member who wouldn't try to set her on fire. Allen was very pleased with herself. She had set a new record for how fast she could evolve a Pokémon, no stones allowed. Heading back to the fortress, Sterling observed the metang floating next to her. "_This thing… looks strong enough to punch through boulders. Perfect."_

Sterling headed back to her quarters, Platina tagging along. "Wow! I can't believe Allen caught you a pseudo-legendary pokemon! How'd you get her to do it?" Sterling gave her a blank look. "It got stuck to my sword, and Allen said something about catching it in honor of Steven, whoever that is." Platina shrugged. "I have honestly no idea where she gets all this crazy stuff from." Just then, Allen passed them as they walked to their quarters. "Hi Berlitz! Hi Ms. Tsundere!" Platina looked baffled. "Why did you call me Berlitz?" Allen looked at her sadly. "My my, doesn't even realize that she's a Berlitz. What a shame."

"_Tsundere? I feel… confused."_ Sterling frowned. Pretending like she didn't hear anything, she walked into the room. She walked into the room to see Yellow bandaging several cuts on Red's back, and he was talking angrily. "I can't believe it! We were sent to the boundary to patrol, and those stupid Rocket Grunts ambush us! We drove them off, of course, but they still managed to cause enough damage to be a nuisance! The moment Cyrus says it's time to crush Giovanni, then I'm going to be there on the front line to kick their asses!" Yellow sighed. "Just don't hurt yourself, okay?" Red sighed. "Fine. I'll try." Sterling walked past them and collapsed on the bed. She was going to need all the rest she could get, because she was exhausted. Deep inside the ruby, something woke up.

I apologize for the short chapter. This was just a filler chapter.


	4. Chapter 3: Real

I'm experimenting here, so don't kill me. Sterling's POV, if you were wondering.

Voices. Words. Memories. None of them are mine. Mine. That word feels odd on my tongue. Mine. Me. I. Who am I, anyway? Not a living person, not dead either. I don't even think I am a person, seeing as I have no soul. My head hurts. I am trying to remember, but they are not my memories.

Platina smiles at me. I would smile back, but I don't think I can. It's easy enough. Just lift the corners of your mouth. No, not in a snarl. That's easier, at least.

It hurts. I want to scream at Cyrus, want to hate him for what he has done to me. The memories try to come back, try to fill the blank that is my mind. The first few days, I had no problem. I didn't think, didn't feel. Is becoming my own person really worth it?

I want to feel something, to be real. I practice sword fighting every day with Allen, not to improve, not to feel the thrill of it, not to feel the adrenaline rush through me. I do it to feel alive. I try to hold on to that feeling, so I train until I collapse and my muscles are sore. I do it again the next day.

I feel something trying to wake deep inside my heart. Whenever I pull out my heart to check on it, the ruby pulses madly and something tries to escape.

Finally, one day, Cyrus comes to check on me. He tells me I've been acting strange, and asks why. I open my mouth, and suddenly I hear his voice. "_Don't say anything…"_ It's that boy again, the one who has been popping up every now and then to warn me of something, or to argue with me. However, I close my mouth.

Cyrus looks at me. "I guess it's nothing. You are just a puppet, after all."

Ouch. I definitely needed to hear that. I am dismissed, and I head to the kennels. My quilava and metagross are waiting there, and I walk up to them. Metagross turns, and looks at me. Inferno tries to blowtorch my hair. I smack it, and it leaves me alone. "_You know, maybe if you showed your quilava more respect, than it would listen to you." _Him again. I pause, and frown at my heart, since the ruby is pulsing strongly. He laughs. "_Honestly, and Crystal thought I was terrible."_ I scowl, and then whack the pendant with my sword. Suddenly, something clicks. Crystal. That was the girl who tried to run me through with her sword. So that means that… "_Yes,"_ he sneers. "_Finally figured it out, didn't you?"_ I whack the pendant with my sword again. The voice in my head, the one who keeps popping up in my dreams is… the boy I replaced, Silver.

I climb on Metagross, and grab Inferno. Just another day of training, with Metagross flying us to Sinnoh and Inferno picking on the local starly. Metagross levitates into the air, and we're off.

I try to prevent Inferno from torching my hair, and so far I'm failing. I decide to try being nicer to him. Instead of smacking him, I pick him up. "Stop that," I scold. "You shouldn't torch stuff like that. Somebody will get hurt." I'm surprised by the sincerity in my voice, as well as the presence of any emotion. To my surprise, he stops. Maybe this is worth a try after all…

We land, and I find that we aren't in our usual area. The grass is longer, and the Pokémon look stronger. The grass rustles, and a luxio bursts out. She roars, and glares at me as if to say, "Get out of here, before I make you." Metagross glares at her, and she trembles a little, but continues staring down the stronger Pokémon. I am rather impressed by her fighting spirit.

Suddenly, a couple of grunts come over. They have pink hair, and are of the rocket clan. They shouldn't be here. This is Sinnoh, and Sinnoh belongs to Master Cyrus. I unsheathe my sword. They look at me. "What's a pretty little miss doing out here by herself? Oh, I see, you must be of the galactic clan. Pity, I'd hate to have to fight you…" I cut him off slamming the flat of my blade into his face. He gets up, and growls, blood dripping down his face. "Get her." An ekans lunges, but Inferno torches it. I don't think I have ever been so happy to see him burn something. Metagross sends the other Pokémon, a koffing, flying with one well aimed Bullet Punch. A minute later, the grunts follow. I sigh. That's enough training for one day. I mount Metagross, and pull Inferno onto my lap. To my surprise, the luxio comes up to me. She jumps up on. I don't argue. Even though I don't have a pokeball, she is still mine.

When we get back, Allen catches her for me. I name her Shine. I head back to my room, when I feel lightheaded. I collapse, and I hear something rumbling.

I wake up, and Allen is staring at me. "Sterling, when was the last time you ate?" I blink. Oh right. Eating. That's what normal people do. I never felt the need to, but apparently I do have to eat. Allen shoves a bowl in my face. "Eat." I do, because Allen is scary.

I spend the rest of the day sulking on my bed, occasionally having to fight for control of my personal space. Can't I even think to myself? Of course, seeing as I'm sharing a mind with _him_, I have every reason to be annoyed. And tired. And scared. I drag myself to the kennels, and fall asleep in the soft hay next to Shine.


	5. Chapter 5: Normal Mayhem

Sterling realized the reason why Shine decided to join her. Food. The luxio had the world's biggest appetite, and could eat as much food as her metagross. So here she was, watching as Shine devoured yet another plate of poffins. After polishing off her plate and licking off the crumbs, she fell asleep. Sterling sighed. There was no point in trying to train Shine anymore…

As Sterling headed towards the training room, Platina walked over. "Sterling! It's good to see you. Where have you been recently?" Platina couldn't help but notice Sterling preferred to keep to the shadows, and that she always walked quietly, as if she was trying to assassinate somebody. Not a good thought.

In the training room, Allen appeared to be talking to Gold. "And what," Allen asked in a calm, controlled, and soft voice. "Were you doing staring at me like that? Do you really want me to tell Crys what happened?" While Allen talked, Gold's eyes kept straying to Allen's long, curved sword. He gulped. Allen was scariest when she talked in that calm voice of hers, even though the look in her eyes translated to, "_Kill him slowly. Show no mercy."_

Allen turned towards them, and her usual cheerfulness reappeared. "So," Allen trilled. "Who wants to spar who? How about Green and Sterling, and Platina and Gold can spar each other." Gold nodded. He was lucky Allen hadn't chopped him to pieces and fed him to Monti…

Sterling pulled two swords off of the rack, a rapier and a falchion. One of the wonderful things about being two people was that Silver had been right-handed, whereas Sterling was left-handed. Green chose a longsword.

As soon as the sword was in his hands, Sterling lunged. Green parried her attack, but Sterling brought her other hand around and slammed it into his side before he could block it. He doubled over, but recovered quickly and swept his sword towards her legs. Sterling jumped, and lunged again, and the fight was on. Green delivered a series of blows, much stronger than Crystal's but lacking her speed. Sterling parried with one sword and struck with another. She danced out of reach, and blocked his blow by twirling and catching his sword on her hilt. The momentum yanked his sword out of his grasp, and Sterling calmly placed both of her swords on his neck, all while wearing the same expression that one might have when doing garbage duty.

Allen clapped. "Bravo! Good job, both of you. Green, don't beat yourself up, not everybody fights with two hands. Sterling, please refrain from knocking the breath out of your opponents, at least when you're training." The sound of swords clashing was evident, and everybody turned around.

"Hey, I can't hit a girl Platina, and that definitely means I can't hit a pretty girl like you." Clang!  
"Shut it, Gold!" Platina screeched, and she brought her sword down hard. She looked nothing like the refined lady she was outside of battle. Gold blocked it, and Sterling realized what he was trying to do. By baiting Platina, he was causing her to lose focus and tire herself faster. Platina was losing, and Gold was teasing her with repeated taunts. CLANG! "Oww!"

"Platina! You aren't supposed to do that!" Allen looked horrified. One of Platina's wild blows had hit Gold in the head, knocking him out.

Platina had calmed down a bit, and looked at everybody. "Why are you all…? Oh. Did I do that? I really must apologize to mister Gold…" Platina looked horrified. Sterling couldn't help herself, and she let out a soft snort.

Sterling walked towards Cyrus' study, having been called there for a private talk. "Good. Sterling, you are here. I've heard of your progress from Teal, and I believe you are ready for your first mission. You are to accompany a group of grunts with Allen to the northern border. Understand?"

Sterling nodded. "Yes sire," she stated in the same monotone she used for most people. She walked out, and her hand instinctively went to her sword hilt. As she was leaving, she noticed a belt with six pokeballs attached sitting on his desk. Cyrus didn't use Pokémon, she was sure of it.

"_Damnit!_ _That idiot has been hoarding my Pokémon!" _Silver's angry voice suddenly exploded in Sterling's head. "_While I agree that he's an idiot, do you really have to yell so loud? I'm going to end up deaf." _Silver muttered something unintelligible in reply.

Sterling walked over to Allen's room, which was far bigger than the rest of the group, who Allen had nicknamed the 'Dex Holders, even though Sterling had no idea what she was talking about. Sterling had a suspicion that the reason Allen's room was so large was because she scared even Cyrus. "Allen. Cyrus has requested that we are to escort a group of grunts to the northern border." Allen, who appeared to have been passed out on her mattress, jumped up.

"Great! It's been way too long since I've punched someone!" As she said this, Allen cracked her knuckles.

"But the grunts are of Galactic," Sterling stated, puzzled.

"I know. All grunts are equally stupid. You'll see why it's hard to not punch one in the face." Allen had a grim look on her face.

Sterling sighed, and walked out. "You can go round up the grunts. I need to go get my Pokémon." Allen nodded, clearly pleased with her job.

"ALRIGHT, YOU LAZY SLACKERS! GET OVER HERE BEFORE I HAVE TO SWEEP UP THE LITTLE PIECES OF YOU OFF THE FLOOR AND BRING THEM HERE!" Allen hollered at the sleepy looking grunts. Sterling had just walked in to see Allen yelling at the grunts in a voice that would make an exploud envious. Shine and Inferno covered their sensitive ears, while Metagross just endured the pain. Allen turned towards Sterling. "Oh good, you're here. Come on, we have work to do."

They headed to the stables, and Allen lead two rapidash out of the stables. Swinging herself up on one, Allen handed Sterling the reigns for the other. "Come on! It's much easier than riding a dodrio!" Allen teased. The rapidash Sterling was given looked at her, regarding her with curiosity and intelligence. It flicked her bangs away from her silver eye, and its eyes widened in recognition. It nickered, and nuzzled Sterling. Allen watched, amused. "See? Not too hard, right?" Sterling scoffed, and swung herself up in one fluid motion. She silently thanked the people she had been once for being good with horses.

The two girls rode out to where the rest of the grunts were waiting. "How come you get to ride rapidash," whined one grunt.  
"Because unlike you, we actually have brains in our heads," retorted Allen.

The grunts grumbled, but wisely didn't say anything. Allen shot Sterling a look that said, "_See? Complete idiots, the lot of them."_ Sterling had to agree.

After riding for a while, they stopped to give the grunts a rest. It would do them no good if the guards for the border were dead on their feet when they arrived. Sterling hopped of her rapidash, and out of old habit that wasn't hers, began to eavesdrop on the conversations.

"I stole an eevee from some breeder," one grunt bragged. There were angry grumbles from the rest of the grunts as the grunt who had been bragging pulled a bedraggled little Pokémon out of a bag. The eevee squirmed and bit the grunt.

"I heard that eevees are really rare and can evolve into different forms," one grunt said enviously. "I even have a water stone, and then I could have a vaporeon." The gears in Sterling's brain began to turn, and both her and Silver were thinking the same thing; steal the eevee and the water stone. Just then, Shine dropped a dead magikarp at her feet, and wrinkled her nose, as if to say that the magikarp tasted bad.

The grunt with the eevee lunged for the water stone. "Give me that. I need it, it's my eevee."

The other grunt leaped out of the way. "You can't have it! It's mine!"

Soon, they got into a fight over the water stone, and while everybody was focused on the fight, Sterling slipped in, grabbed the eevee, replaced it with the dead magikarp, and nabbed the water stone out of the grunt's pocket.

Sterling ran back to her spot under the tree, a smirk growing wider and wider on her face. The eevee stared at her, trying to find out who this strange human was. She shook her head. Kidnapped twice in one day. That had to be a record…

In the distance, the eevee grunt pinned the other one to the ground. "Now you have to give me the water stone," he crowed. He reached towards the other grunt's pocket, only to find… "Hey! The water stone is gone!"

Sterling chuckled quietly, her precious loot in clutched tightly in her hand. The eevee regarded her with confusion.

The grunts began to argue again, but Allen, who had slept through the entire argument, was rudely awoken by a fist in her face. "WHY DON'T YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP AND GET MOVING!" Allen screamed, releasing Monti and Tea and looking like she was ready to chop them all into Persian food. The grunts quieted, and Allen jumped onto her rapidash. Sterling did the same, and desperately tried to wipe the smirk off her face. It worked.

"Hey Sterling, nice eevee. I heard you can find them in the woods near here. Aren't you a lucky little girl?" Allen caught the eevee, and handed the ball to Sterling. Sterling allowed herself a smirk. "_I can't believe it. Thanks, Silver."_


	6. Chapter 6: Unmasked!

I'm sitting here, battling writer's block with a pen and a sword. So far, writer's block is winning.

They rode through the woods, their rapidash lighting the way. Allen seemed slightly worried. "Be careful. We share this stretch of woods with those Hoenn thugs." Her face twisted into a smirk. "But I guess we're thugs too." Sterling didn't say anything, but kept her hand on her sword.

"Where are those idiots?" snarled Allen. "We just took a break, the hell is keeping them up?" She stopped her rapidash, and Sterling had to tug hard on the reins to prevent a collision. The grunts were nowhere to be seen.

Allen swore. "Never mind. It doesn't matter." As if to contradict her, a group of Team Magma grunts burst out of the woods, hefting swords and shouting rude comments.

At this point, Allen just sighed, and unsheathed the huge sword Sterling had somehow missed. "Oh well. Seems we'll have to just fight our way through… Grunts really aren't much of a threat."

"But I am." The grunts parted to reveal a man on a rapidash, holding a curved sword and dressed in fancy clothes unsuited for combat. A long scar ran across his face. He smiled. "Is that girl a new one? She looks familiar. The name is Tabitha."

Allen snorted, and Tabitha glared at her. She smirked. "Last time we met, I nearly tore your face in half. This time," here she hefted her sword. "I'll finish the deed!"

Nudging her rapidash's side, he plunged forward, and Allen brought her sword down hard. Tabitha raised his sword in the nick of time, and sparks flew off the two swords, the owners breathing hard with inhuman snarls etched on their faces.

Meanwhile, the grunts swarmed Sterling, and she withdrew Rose. She let out a hiss, and jabbed her sword down towards a grunt, only to change course at the nick of time and plunge it into his heart. As he fell, she pulled the sword out and dodged a blow from behind.

With a light kick, Rapidash rose up, and plunged downwards, diamond hard hooves ready to gore anybody who came close. Sterling stood up on Rapidash's back, and jumped out of reach of a wild sword blow. Landing lightly on Rapidash's back, she struck out with her sword again.

Allen took a moment to watch her junior's fight. Other than a few slashes, Sterling seemed fine. "_She looks more alive than she ever has!"_ Sterling had a cold light in her eyes, as well as contempt. She seemed perfectly fine and in control.

For a moment, she thought that both of Sterling's eyes were silver, but a blow from Tabitha brought her back to reality. She parried the blow, and used her other hand to punch him in the face. "You idiot. I have two hands you know." She struck again.

The magma grunts were finding the same thing out the hard way. Sterling had whipped out her other sword, and was now fighting with both hands. Wave after wave of grunts fell before her, until only a few were left. They stood hesitantly, unsure whether to attack or not.

Allen struck again, and knocked Tabitha's sword out of his hands at the expense of her own. They stared at each other for a minute, until Allen jumped up, and kicked Tabitha off his rapidash. She landed lightly, and looked ready to run for her sword.

Tabitha smirked and pulled out a knife. "I'm not going down yet."

Allen smiled back. "Yes you are." She pulled out Sterling's pokeball. "Metang, Psychic!" Metang did as he was told and smashed Tabitha to the ground. His knife skittered away from him, and Allen took the chance to walk forward and pull out her knife.

"Say hello to Giratina for me." She plunged the knife downwards, but one of the grunts remembered the rapidash that now stood next to a tree, munching peacefully on a blade of grass.

He whistled, and the rapidash ran forward towards Allen. Sterling lunged forward and knocked Allen out of the way, and Tabithat took the opportunity to get up and order a quick retreat.

As the dust cleared, Allen glared at Sterling. "I almost killed him, you know."

Sterling returned the glare with a blank look. "You almost got flattened, you know."

Allen scowled, and rubbed her sore muscles. "Where the hell are those grunts?"

There was a sudden noise, and a stampede of galactic grunts ran forward, and began to babble. "We're so sorry Commander Teal! We were following you, but we went to investigate a strange noise, and then we realized it was a trap…!" They noticed the bloody leaves on the ground, as well as the dead bodies strewn across the forest floor, and Allen wiping blood off her sword.

Allen gave them a glare. "You're late." The grunts paled.

"I don't understand. How did you get Metang?" Sterling had bandaged most of her cuts, and it almost seemed as if nothing had happened, if not for the dark aura that seemed to hang around Allen.

Allen's face brightened, and the aura cleared. "With my ninja thieving skills. Honestly Sterling, I would have thought you would know better, you being Silver and all."

Sterling flinched, and Allen patted her back. "It's ok, I won't tell anyone. You honestly need to be more careful. I thought you were a lunatic at first."

"_That's what you call training?"_ Sterling hissed as Silver mocked her for yet another failed attempt to teach Inferno Lava Plume.

She extinguished her flaming hair. "_Shut up."_ She could see him in her mind's eye smirking.

"_It's not my fault you're such a weakling."_

"SHUT UP YOU MOTHERFUCKING SON OF A…!" Sterling's sentence soon degraded into a long string of cuss words. Allen stood in the doorway of the training room, listening to Sterling yell at someone.

"Shut up Silver!" Allen's eyes grew wide. Oh, this would be so much fun to tease her about later…

Sterling hit her head against Rapidash's neck. She really needed to be more careful… She grabbed the pendant around her neck and whacked it with her sword. There was a satisfying clang, and a muffled growl from inside her head.

Allen sighed, and looked at the small cluster of barracks up ahead. "Well, it seems we're here at last…"

Me: Mewtwo one, writer's block one hundred twenty three! It took that many tries to get this right! And I'm an idiot for actually counting!


End file.
